TikTok is asking creators about its biggest weaknesses as competition for talent grows

• A TikTok survey shown to creators in the app indicates where the company thinks its biggest weaknesses might be.
• In the survey issued late September, TikTok wanted to know if creators felt they were getting enough views, if they were paid enough, and if they had enough face time with local representatives.
• It makes sense that TikTok wants to keep its creators happy as competition grows.
• TikTok faces a squeeze for talent from rival services by YouTube, Instagram, and third parties like Triller.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

You can get a sense of the biggest issues an organization thinks it has by the questions it asks of its users.

Companies often conduct surveys of customers to identify issues — and TikTok is no different.

The social media platform quizzed a select group of its users in late September, and alongside the usual questions about their satisfaction with the app, TikTok also asked some specific questions on topics it seemingly believes are hot button issues among its userbase.

Within an extensive, four-page survey, TikTok asked users what challenges they had encountered when growing and reaching their audience on the app, giving respondents the opportunity to choose three options that were bugbears.

They included concerns that users’ videos are “rarely seen on the For You Page”, that “videos are rarely seen by my followers”, and that “my video views are not consistent.”

Funding is another issue prevalent within the creator community. Since creators can’t sponsor posts with ads, funding for creators mostly comes from TikTok’s own Creator Fund, established by TikTok earlier this year and which came under criticism for low payouts.

It’s an issue TikTok appears to be aware of, too.

The app asked users whether they agreed with a number of statements about their funding experience, including “the funding I have received is below my expectations,” “the minimum balance to withdraw from TikTok wallet is too high”, “there is no guarantee of how much funding I can receive from TikTok”, “TikTok offers fewer monetization options compared to other platforms,” and challenges around meeting the minimum requirements to join the Creator Fund.

In a previous interview with Business Insider, TikTok’s European general manager revealed 40% of creators eligible for funding had signed up for the scheme.

One of TikTok’s main strengths is its creation tools — features that have differentiated it from rival services such as Instagram Reels and Triller — but the app is seemingly aware it can’t rest on its laurels.

Creators have been asked whether they think the classification of music by genre on the app is confusing, if the beautifying effects they can use are too unnatural, whether the options for background music and templates are too limited, and whether “traditional music in my country” is accessible enough.

TikTok also asks questions of its creators about whether they feel the analytics – which currently show the gender split and location of users, plus total views on videos and the source of them within the app – are too limited, and if they feel they have enough contact with app representatives.